Life is Strange: The CORRECT ENDING
by Kaarina Helvete
Summary: I needed writing therapy after that devastating ending so I REWROTE IT. WHOOP. EVERYONE IS HAPPY THE END. Enjoy. M for language.


Life is Strange: the CORRECT ENDING

Max stared at the photo she'd dropped on the floor, unable to enjoy the rare opportunity it depicted. The only thought racing through her head was how she didn't have any more time. She would have to sit there in the corner and listen to her best friend die in about thirty seconds. Or something like that. She'd never counted, because she'd always had all the time in the world.

She jumped when Nathan burst through the door and started talking to himself. In a few seconds, Chloe would walk in, and there would be nothing Max could do, and she _had to listen to it again—_

She couldn't pull the fire alarm. That would imply that she knew what was happening, and she didn't want to test fate again. What if she just grew some balls and changed fate in a way that didn't use her knowledge about the future? And if she died right then, well. She didn't want to, but anything was better than hearing Chloe die again. Never again. She clenched her jaw and stepped out from behind the wall. "Hey, what are you doing in here?" she asked, sounding outraged.

Nathan whipped around, his wild eyes causing fear to lance through her. She'd seen his look so many times to not be crippled by it, but it didn't keep the fear at bay altogether. "What are _you_ doing? Listening? You hiding back there, trying to eavesdrop, you bitch!?"

Max stood firm. "No, I just wanna know why you're in the girl's bathroom. It's weird."

Nathan's expression suddenly went crazed, and he yelled, "You think you're better than me!? Get the fuck outta here, or I'll _kill_ you, bitch!"

Max forced herself not to completely freak out, because she actually believed him now. She did flinch though, and she made a face at him. "Alright, geez, I'm going! No killing, please." She rushed past him before she said something else stupid.

She pushed through the door quickly, her mind racing. She couldn't remember, but Chloe should be coming right—

"Max?" Chloe stood right there in front of her, looking really confused. As she should be.

Max's heart raced. Act surprised, idiot! "Chloe!" Max didn't even have to act nervous to meet her because she was _actually_ nervous. Really nervous. Please, let this work!

"You go here?" Chloe traded her confused look for a more suspicious one.

Max had to remember this Chloe hadn't seen her in five years. She took a deep breath. "Yeah, you?" Stupid, Max. You would have known by now if Chloe went there.

Chloe frowned. "... No. Look, I just gotta use the bathroom real quick, then we can talk."

"Wait!" Max exclaimed. She _could not_ go in there. Not alone, anyway. She wouldn't let her.

Chloe turned, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Max went on, "I don't think you should go in there right now."

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

Max shifted uncomfortably. How would she let Chloe know when she wasn't supposed to know in the first place? "Nathan Prescott is in there, and he's being weird."

Chloe blinked, then frowned. "Why the fuck is Nathan Prescott in the girl's bathroom?"

Max knew Chloe knew, but she couldn't let her _know_ that. Her mind raced to think of a reason for it. "I don't know, but when I told him to get out, he threatened to kill me, so I got out of there." Her hands were shaking. Stop shaking, hands, or Chloe would know something was up!

Chloe deadpanned. "Nathan is a weasel, he's not gonna do anything." She turned towards the bathroom again.

Max's stomach plummeted, and she acted before she even knew what she was doing. "No!" She reached out and grabbed Chloe's arm.

Chloe wrenched out of her grip. "Get off of me!"

"Please, Chloe, don't go in there!" Her mind raced. What would convince her? The fact that Nathan had a gun? But she wasn't supposed to know that. She lowered her voice and stepped closer to Chloe again. "I really think he might hurt someone. I saw a gun poking out of his pants. I was gonna tell the principal, then I saw you." Fear permeated her whole body, not because she was scared of Nathan, but because Chloe might not listen to her, and she'd have to rewind again. She couldn't risk that.

Chloe frowned, suspicious. "You're serious? You're sure it was a gun?"

Max nodded. "I mean, not completely sure, but are you really gonna risk it? Why would you even go in there while he was there, anyway? Why are you even here if you don't go here?" The thoughts were just lining up in her head, now. She was getting better at lying to her best friend. Fantastic.

Chloe looked visibly taken aback. "It's nothing, I just needed to go—"

She turned around when the door opened behind her, and Nathan stepped out, looking around frantically. His eyes settled on Chloe with a fierce glare. "You!"

Chloe glared right back. "You. What do you want?"

Nathan marched towards her. "You and I are gonna talk, _now."_

He reached forward to grab her, and she stepped back as if she expected it. "I'm not going anywhere with you, _freak_."

Nathan's eyes were daggers, and he bared his teeth. "Are you fuckin' with me, bitch?"

Chloe stepped right up to his face and lowered her voice. "You think I'm going in there alone with you when you've got a _gun?"_

Nathan's eyes show open in disbelief. "How—" He looked from Chloe, to Max, then clenched his teeth. "You!"

Max held her folded arms against her body, both to look firm and to keep herself from freaking out. What if he pulled it out right now? He was crazy enough. If Chloe couldn't fight him off, what chance did _she_ have?

Chloe interrupted her racing thoughts, and sneered at Nathan. "You'd better go hide your toy before somebody finds it."

Nathan was trembling with anger (and probably fear, as Max now knew). He stepped back, and turned to leave, pointing at Chloe. "This isn't over! Watch your back, bitch!" Then he headed off down the hall, his hands in his pockets.

Chloe waited until he was out of earshot, and maybe a little longer, then she let out a breath. "Holy shit, you were right. You may have just saved my life, Max."

Max trembled. "Y-Yeah. Let's go tell the principal, now."

Chloe whirled around. "No way. Nathan's gonna go hide that thing, and you won't have any evidence, and he'll use his family to make your life a living hell. We're gonna catch him another way." She paused, composing herself. "But until then, let's get out of this dump." She took Max's hand and dragged her down the hall.

Max already knew where they were going, but she felt like she should ask. "W-Where are we going?"

"My place! We haven't hung out in forever, Butt Munch, I'm gonna show you all my new toys—including my sick ride!" She grinned, still pulling Max along.

It worked. Chloe was alive, everything was okay! For now. Holy shit, she was alive. Max held her feelings inside, since this Chloe was very different than the Chloe Max knew at the end of the week. She had to play it cool until then.

But could she, really? How would she tell Chloe that her best friend was dead, and that Max had somehow solved the case all by herself? Would she have to live through that hell _again,_ fixing everything? Would the photo rewind even last that long? She had no idea how long she could go inside this rewind, and she'd already used her power so much.

That was the thing. She'd already saved Chloe, so what if the photo rewind ended and put them right back where she'd been, looking at that huge tornado? Was this all for nothing? Was it impossible to win this?

No, it couldn't be. There had to be a way. She just had to fix everything right now, before the rewind sucked her back to real time. She had to make it so the tornado would never happen. She had to fix this all without using her powers.

She had to tell Chloe everything.

#

"Dude, you don't look good. Are you alright?" Chloe asked, slight concern showing through her humorous demeanor.

They'd made small talk for a few minutes, and Max was visibly uncomfortable. She was trying, she really was! But she had to force herself to say it. "Chloe, there's something I have to tell you."

"Alright, what's up?" She kept her eyes on the road, unaware of the severity of Max's gaze.

"You might wanna park." Then at least Chloe wouldn't slam on the brakes when Max mentioned something _completely impossible._

Chloe sighed. "Look, sure I'm mad that you didn't talk to me for five years, but I don't fucking care about that now, so we can just drop it, okay—"

"That's not what I'm talking about, please just pull over." Max gripped the bottom of her shirt in tight fists.

Chloe frowned, and then sighed and did as Max asked. "Alright, we're parked. What's _so_ important that I can't even drive while you tell me?"

Max took a deep breath, and let it out shakily. "I... I already know how this week is going to go."

Chloe deadpanned. "Okay...?"

She seemed too weirded out to say any more, so Max trudged on. "I mean, I know everything that's going to happen, already. I've seen it."

Chloe's face was of complete disbelief. "Right. Okay. Can I drive, now? Drive you to a mental hospital?"

Max didn't know if she was serious, since they hadn't _talked in five years._ "Let me prove it! Please. I can prove it, I promise."

Chloe sighed. "Okay, so, you're psychic. Awesome. What's in my pocket?"

Shit. _Shit_ she couldn't remember! "Y-You asked me this when we went to your mom's diner. You had... I think eighty-three cents, some cigarettes, your panda keychain—but that's in the ignition—and a parking ticket for sometime in the morning."

Chloe blinked. Then she shoved her hands in her pockets, and took out a dollar bill and a bit of change, and a packet of cigarettes. "Not correct, but... still pretty freaky."

"Not correct right now, you're gonna spend some money later."

Chloe frowned, distracted. "Right... Okay, that's weird as shit. What the fuck is this about my mom's diner?"

Max took another breath to calm herself. All the events of the week raced through her head, and she just wanted them _gone,_ but they wouldn't _go away,_ and if she didn't hurry then the memory would end! "Tomorrow morning we go to the diner, and that's where I tell you about my Rewind power."

Chloe deadpanned again. "Rewind power?"

Max nodded. "The one I used to go back in time. And change things."

Chloe shut her eyes, trying to process those words. "You... Alright, I knew you were crazy, but this is _way_ more crazy than I remember."

"Please, I don't have much time, I'm using it _right now._ I have to tell you everything before—" She stopped. Did she?

Chloe looked worried. "Before what?"

The only reason everything wouldn't turn out okay would be if she hadn't texted David Masdon before, while she was still in class. Max pulled out her phone and opened the messages frantically.

Chloe pressed her, concern and impatience in her voice. "Max, _what?"_

Max sighed in relief. The message was there. That hadn't changed, thank whatever god of external force was looking out for her, and whom had given her this crazy power. "No, it's fine. I forgot. Except that everything's not fine."

Chloe was not amused. "What the hell is going on, Max? Tell me."

Max shook her head to clear it. The memory wasn't ending, so she could probably still keep explaining. She really didn't want to, but she didn't know what would happen in the memory ended before she was finished. Would the Max in this reality conveniently explain everything while she was being sucked back to real time? She didn't wanna think about it anymore; she was never going to use it again, anyway. "I know everything that's going to happen this week, and it's horrible."

Chloe frowned, skeptical but still giving Max a chance. "What kind of horrible?"

Max let out another shaky breath. She couldn't stay calm much longer, not with all those memories racing around in her head. "I know what happened to Rachel."

Chloe's eyes shot open wide. "You know what happened to her? Where is she?" She gave Max a hard stare. "How the fuck do _you_ know when the police can't even find a clue?"

Max let out a whimper as tears welled in her eyes. Her chest hurt, and she held herself tightly in the truck seat. "I saw it, we both investigate and find out what happened."

Chloe's voice was forced, and commanding. "Where is she?"

Max sobbed. She could still smell the remains from under the ground, feel the horror she felt when she realized what had happened. "I'm sorry," she whimpered.

Chloe grabbed Max's shoulder. "Tell me!" she yelled, and Max sobbed, cowering away into the passenger door with her hands covering her face. Chloe let go, and pulled away with dread written on her face. "God, if she's dead, just say so already!"

"She's dead!" Max sobbed.

Max had to hear it again. She tried to block it out, but at the same time she _couldn't_ because her best friend, her _Chloe_ was crying and hurting and she couldn't just sit there feeling sorry for herself when Chloe was hurting. She took Chloe in her arms again and they cried, Chloe mourning the death of a friend, and Max once again mourning the friend she would never know.

#

She woke up on the cliff overlooking the town, the same place she'd been only an hour before. Her face was dry, not at all like she'd been crying, but the pain in her chest quickly made her eyes well up again. She looked around, frantic. The weather was fine, no killer tornadoes. And—Chloe was there, smiling out at the sunset. "Damn, this view is just about the only reason I'd wanna stay here."

Max stared. Chloe was alive. The town was saved. Had what she'd done been enough? She didn't care at that moment, and she rushed towards Chloe and barreled into her with a tight hug.

Chloe stumbled, but stayed on her feet. "Hey, watch it! We're on a cliff!" She realized Max was crying, and softened. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Max sobbed. "You're okay, the town's okay, I don't remember anything, I'm sorry—" she sobbed again.

Chloe held her, letting her cry all over her shirt, all while holding her up looking confused. "What don't you remember? Max, what's wrong?" Then she blinked. "Oh shit, is this what you were talking about? You said when the memory ended, you wouldn't remember anything?"

Max pulled away, sniffling. "Y-Yeah, I don't—The last thing I remember is telling you about... about Rachel. This happens every time, I don't know what's changed."

Chloe winced in sympathy. "Oh, Max—" She took Max in a tight embrace again. "It's okay, you told me everything. You don't have to go through that again."

Max sniffed. "I did? Everything?"

"Yeah. I know what that bastard Mark Jefferson did, and how he used Nathan. Everybody knows, now. Those freaks aren't ever going to hurt anyone, ever again."

Max breathed to calm herself. She'd really already explained everything? David caught Mr. Jefferson, and nobody got hurt? He didn't get shot because Max wasn't there? "Are you okay, Chloe?"

Chloe squeezed tighter, more for her own comfort. "I'm fine. It will hurt, but I'll be fine. I have you here, now."

New tears spilled from Max's eyes, but she willed herself not to sob. She was so tired of all the pain and the fear, too tired to cry. "It's really over?"

Chloe stroked her back. Max felt like she would fall over, but Chloe's strong arms held her in place. "It's all over. Nobody's gonna dare fuck with us ever again, you hear?"

Max sniffed. "I hear."

Chloe stroked her hair. "Good. We're gonna be alright."

Max believed that, for the first time that whole week. As long as Chloe was okay, she would be. And she'd be there to stop whatever horrors came to haunt her friend as long as she lived.

End of Episode 5

#

 **A/N: AND SO Max talks to Chloe about all the horrible things she had to see like all the deaths and Chloe getting killed a million times and Mr. Jefferson using her as a photo subject and all that nasty shit and SHE TURNS OUT OKAY. EVERYONE IS HAPPY. EVEN VICTORIA AND NATHAN. THE END.**


End file.
